SABATON Frontman: 'It's A Bit Of A Love-Hate Relationship For Me To Write An Album'

LoudTV.net recently conducted an interview with vocalist Joakim Brodén of Swedish metallers SABATON. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the songwriting and recording process for SABATON's eighth album, "The Last Stand", Joakim said: "When I start writing for a new album, at least for me, the first days, before I really get started, it's desperation — I hate it. Nothing seems to be good. But then there's usually one song or something that, 'Yes! I can still do this.' And once I've got that song, it goes pretty good, actually. I'm really loving that process. Because I get up in the morning, I do a little bit of workout maybe, I run with the dogs or something and then I sit in the studio the whole day and I write, and that's the part I love. But then at the end, when you've been writing for several months and you're writing intensively, the deadline is coming, all of a sudden I start hating everything: 'It's not good enough.' And even the good stuff I start hating. And that's a certain point when I start listening back and comparing it. So I think it's a natural process."

He continued: "Intellectually, I know not every song that I write can be the best SABATON song ever, but emotionally, I want it to be that way. So it's a bit of a love-hate relationship for me to write an album. But to be in the studio this time was even better. Because with 'Heroes', we had to prove that Chris [Rörland, guitar], Hannes [Van Dahl, drums] and Thobbe [Englund, guitar] belonged in SABATON, which meant we had… Maybe it was me, and maybe it was them as well who stayed really much in what SABATON had done before, whereas now we think everybody proved that. Now we can hear more of Hannes's drum playing, his style in playing drums, the drum fills, Chris and Thobbe on the guitar solos; we can hear more of their musical identity, being more them and less… not held back, but less limited to the SABATON formula. And that was really nice, actually, to see. And in many cases, especially with the drums and the guitar solos, I was so positively surprised. And also we recorded in April and May, not January and February, and that helps a lot. Instead of having minus 35 [Celsius] and your car won't start, now we could go out and do a little bit of a barbecue in the middle of the day."

"The Last Stand" was released on August 19 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2014's "Heroes" was once again produced by Peter Tägtgren (PAIN, LINDEMANN, HYPOCRISY) and it "marks a brand new chapter in SABATON history," according to a press release.

The artwork for "The Last Stand" was created by Peter Sallaí, who has worked with SABATON since "Carolus Rex".

SABATON recently parted ways with Thobbe Englund and replaced him with Tommy Johansson (GOLDEN RESURRECTION, REINXEED).

Thobbe stated about his decision to exit SABATON: "I have in recent years become more aware of what would make me feel real happiness and content, and that is to expand my own creativeness in combination with a somewhat stiller life, where I will not tour all year round at the speed of light."